MaudlinMutantMollusk:If you are using FedEx to ship three kilos of meth and 100 grams of cocaine to the Philippines, I have no trouble believing you'd be stupid enough to call about it

If you watch David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" and write down a list of all of the things that make the town of Twin Peaks appealing and interesting, and arguably even "fascinating" and worth looking into, and then imagine the same town, but without everything that you wrote on that list, you've got Redwood City.

FloydA:MaudlinMutantMollusk: If you are using FedEx to ship three kilos of meth and 100 grams of cocaine to the Philippines, I have no trouble believing you'd be stupid enough to call about it

If you watch David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" and write down a list of all of the things that make the town of Twin Peaks appealing and interesting, and arguably even "fascinating" and worth looking into, and then imagine the same town, but without everything that you wrote on that list, you've got Redwood City.

I've heard UPS or a private courier are a much better bet. Also, is it really that hard to avoid detection if there's no dogs involved? Did they slip up and label the bags 'cocaine' instead of 'flour' or 'confectioners' sugar?'

Vector R:I've heard UPS or a private courier are a much better bet. Also, is it really that hard to avoid detection if there's no dogs involved? Did they slip up and label the bags 'cocaine' instead of 'flour' or 'confectioners' sugar?'

From my understanding FedEx is actually a prevalent choice. The UPS allows the Feds to pie around, and they share a lot of stuff with the USPS. FedEx only allows dogs with a warrant. A large percentage of drugs travels by FedEx apparently.

/Buddy is a customs agent, works with the DEA a lot//still don't know if its true seeds are considered fruit at the border, and you can't get in trouble ordering them. Urban legend?

FloydA:If you watch David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" and write down a list of all of the things that make the town of Twin Peaks appealing and interesting, and arguably even "fascinating" and worth looking into, and then imagine the same town, but without everything that you wrote on that list, you've got Redwood City.

wildcardjack:Does cocaine or meth really have a smell or do the dogs sniff out solvents?

As a dog trainer I can tell you that dogs can sniff out things that you wouldn't believe. A lot of times it comes down to trainers train the dog with the object, and then they track it or detect it, at which point we go "Huh, guess it does have a smell" So, might be the solvent, might be the drug, dunno, but the dog does. I've known corpse detecting dogs that have found 2 year old corpses at the bottom of a 35 foot deep lake while riding on a boat. We're still not sure how they can smell cancer tumors, and detect epileptic seizures before they happen.They're not infallible though, the accuracy comes down to the training of the dog and the relationship and skill of the handler.

CruJones:Vector R: I've heard UPS or a private courier are a much better bet. Also, is it really that hard to avoid detection if there's no dogs involved? Did they slip up and label the bags 'cocaine' instead of 'flour' or 'confectioners' sugar?'

From my understanding FedEx is actually a prevalent choice. The UPS allows the Feds to pie around, and they share a lot of stuff with the USPS. FedEx only allows dogs with a warrant. A large percentage of drugs travels by FedEx apparently.

/Buddy is a customs agent, works with the DEA a lot//still don't know if its true seeds are considered fruit at the border, and you can't get in trouble ordering them. Urban legend?

Thats not quite accurate. It was FedEx and the USPS that had a deal, hence why you'd see FedEx drop boxes infront of post offices.

I had a friend who worked as a driver for FEDEX for 20 years, late 70-late 90s. He said it was easy to profile a drug containing pkg., check it, and return it to the belt to be resorted, minus a portion of its contents. mostly weed, ludes, coke and laundered cash. One time the corner of a wrapped pkg was torn, unraveled, and weed was seen spilling out. by the time the sorting belt went around once, it was gone. One driver mentioned it to a supervisor and there were some suspensions and firings that day.

Z-clipped:This guy would be sentenced to death in the Philippines. I'm not kidding. That's the penalty for drug trafficking here.

They wouldn't kill him, because there's a nation wide moratorium on executions, but still..

Not to mention that they abolished the death penalty in 2006 and commuted all the death sentences to life in prison.

Still, prison in the Philippines probably isn't that great of a place to spend the rest of your life, but they sometimes re-enact music videos like Thriller and Gangam Style so they've got that going for them.